Top positive review

5.0 out of 5 starsHalf The Perfect World, Madeleine Peyroux - All perfect record

ByVictoron 19 January 2011

After an eight year wait between her first and second albums (Dreamland and Careless Love), chanteuse Madeleine Peyroux only made us wait a further two years for this, her third album.

Again the tone is slow burning blues with a distinct jazz flavour. Peyroux has taken some well chosen covers and a few well written originals to produce an album of smouldering intensity, with tales of love and loss. Peyroux has a beautiful voice, with a timbre and phrasing that invites favourable comparisons with Billie Holliday. Immense care has gone into the recordings, every note sung or played is carefully and thoughtfully done. The backing is light and respectful, giving Peyroux's fine voice centre stage. It is a fine piece of work.

It is an excellent album for those quiet moments alone with a bottle of wine and that special someone. Highly recommended.

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After an eight year wait between her first and second albums (Dreamland and Careless Love), chanteuse Madeleine Peyroux only made us wait a further two years for this, her third album.

Again the tone is slow burning blues with a distinct jazz flavour. Peyroux has taken some well chosen covers and a few well written originals to produce an album of smouldering intensity, with tales of love and loss. Peyroux has a beautiful voice, with a timbre and phrasing that invites favourable comparisons with Billie Holliday. Immense care has gone into the recordings, every note sung or played is carefully and thoughtfully done. The backing is light and respectful, giving Peyroux's fine voice centre stage. It is a fine piece of work.

It is an excellent album for those quiet moments alone with a bottle of wine and that special someone. Highly recommended.

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The jazz sensation is back - and quite remarkably, this album is stronger than her previous effort `Careless Love'. A logical progression form her last album, Half The Perfect World retains that effortless jazz sound along with those beautiful smokey vocals, but the standard seems to have been stepped up. The production, the song choice, and the original songs included here all add up to make what is undoubtedly one of the albums of the year.

A huge success with her last album, Half The Perfect World - with tracks like `I'm Alright', `River' and `Smile' - can only see Madeleine Peyroux's already burgeoning reputation grow.

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Peyroux sounds uncannily like Billie Holiday when she sings - something I'm sure she isn't deliberately setting out to do - but the similarities wander in throughout this lovely album. This is one of those rare recordings where the choice of songs, the voice and the musical arrangements all come together to produce something that sounds under-stated, and it's a joy from beginning to end. Cover versions and original songs go together really well here - it's the sort of CD you can slip on late in the evening for a chill out without the mood being spoiled half-way through an upbeat, raunchy number that spoils the ambience. Seriously good music. Beautifully produced, wonderfully sung.

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I already owned Madeleine Peyroux's previous album 'Careless Love' and I thought that was a delicious album. Full of beautifully arranged songs sung with dreamy precision by Miss Peyroux. When it comes to this album, on the other hand, Madeleine Peyroux's voice really shines like the morning sun in summertime.

There are some old classic timeless songs given a new and exciting slant thanks to the glorious sound coming from this nightingale's mouth. Madeleine Peyroux seems to give these songs on this album her own style and it works extremely well. Take "Everybody's Talkin'" for example. A classic song by Nilsson. She gives it a new twist and it works beautifully. It's the same song but it's sung in a different style. She makes it her own.

I don't really have a single favourite track on this delicious album. All the tracks are wonderfully arranged and put together. There's one song on this album which is a duet with kd lang and it's called 'River'. It's a lovely and tranquil song. In fact all the songs on this album are tranquil and chilled.

Madeleine Peyroux's voice fits these songs like a velvet glove. I would have to say that this album is Madeleine Peyroux's finest moment. She has produced quality songs that, in her own laid-back and chilled style, have been given a new lease of life. If you haven't heard of Madeleine Peyroux, buy this album and you'll see what all the fuss is about. And also get her previous album 'Careless Love', because that is also worth checking out.

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Madeleine Peyroux gained international recognition with her album Careless Love and it was an album that prompted me to buy all her previous work. Coming out with a third album under pressure of such success must be incredibly hard. As much as I really love her style and the mood her music puts you in, I have to say the third album is like the third series of The Office: you want it, but you just know you're going to be disappointed. This lady is passionate about her music and I wonder how much passion has been lost through the pressure of producing more music.

In short, it's a lovely album but just doesn't have the magic of Careless Love for me. That's why I've given it a 4.

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For me, the highlights of this wonderfully relaxing album are Half the Perfect World and Once in a While. The latter is one of four songs co-written by Peyroux, and is a beautiful ballad lamenting on what might have been with a lost love.

Madeleine Peyroux has a fantastic voice that teases shades of Billie Holiday. She must be up there among the best contemporary jazz vocalists of the last decade.

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This is easy-listening jazz by a singer with a fine voice that she rarely drives to the limits. Her band provide a perfect and sympathetic backdrop, particularly some excellent organ work. All silky smooth, but I can't help feeling that undemanding selection of material holds Madeleine Peyroux back from her potential.

To choose one example, she duets with k d lang on Joni Mitchell's song River. I love Joni's Blue, but that is arguably the dreariest song on the album. Peyroux could surely have chosen to reinterpret a more challenging and adventurous song?

Don't get me wrong, this is high quality but somewhat empty late-time jazz. I hope the content matches the wrapper next time out!

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This is a unique album of outstanding quality - jazzy with very special vocals and at least as good as Careless Love. This CD should have a wide range of appeal and could be the perfect soundtrack for a dinner party or a romantic evening with a bottle of wine. Very special and well worth sampling. Recommended.